Regency Romance Reviews and much much more

Monthly Archives: August 2012

My first post was a review on the latest Alexandra Hawkins novel in her Lords of Vice series and it got me thinking about serials in general. Romance novels draw us like flies with that one line on the back cover: The first book in an exciting new series by…! I purchase the book and devour it, become excited by the preview for the next book and ultimately depressed when i realize that I must wait a year for the next installment. Of course, the flip side to this is having books to look foward to throughout the series. All off this leads up to my personal pet peeves.

1. The long wait : I don’t claim to understand anything about the world of publishing or the demands on a writer. That being said, why must we the readers wait up to a year for the next book?

2. Forget me, forget me not : So the wait is over, the new book is out and I remember nothing about the previous book. This is a chronic problem I have; worse yet I trade my books in so I no longer have the first book to reread. I must admit this is slowly becoming less of a problem now that I have a kindle. However, the fact remains that I have to reread the previous book(s) in order to know what’s going on.

3. Disappointment abounds : This happens often; the first book was great but the rest seem to be rushed and make little impression on me. Of course, I continue to read the series sometimes unwittingly; because, well I must reach the ending of the series.

4. Missing books, what? : There have been several instances where I really get into a series and it just stops, for no reason that I can tell. For example, the Flambeau Sisters series by Patricia Grasso where she introduced seven sisters; one would expect seven books but no, only three get a story. In fact two of the books are part of the Kasanov series as well. This irritates me, why introduce so many characters when the majority aren’t getting a story of their own.

5. Repeat repeat : I know most plot lines are not that orginal, that doesn’t really bother me too much. However, when a book is basically repeated in the same series I kinda spaz out. Stephanie Laurens does this often in her series, most recently with the Cynster Sisters Trilogy. The first two books are almost identical… the names of the characters and the rout they took changed. However, both books spend the entire time discussing how to get from point A to point B through point C and D. I digress…a future blog perhaps?

And finally 6. The finale aka THE END : After spending sometimes years reading all the books of a series every character has had their 15 minutes of fame. No matter how bad some of the books may be I’m always a little broken hearted. I was desolate when I finished The Hathaways Series by Lisa Kleypass one of my all time favorite series.

So, I think that covers all my pet peeves. The conclusion, for me at least there is no such thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to a series. No matter what may annoy me about them I will always be a sucker for The first in an exciting new series by …!

What are your pet peeves about serials, do you like them or hate them or are you absolutely addicted to them?

All Afternoon with a Scandalous Marquess is the latest installment in the Lords of Vice series by Alexandra Hawkins and I was rather disappointed in the book. Although I need to reread the other four books in the series I can safely say that Ms. Hawkins has had a better showing in her other books.

This book for me at least started out as a strong 4 out of 5. The plot was a bit different than the usual, after all how often does a Marquess marry a brothel owner. The first three chapters of this novel span several years as Charlotte or “Madam Vena” as she is know at her brothel and Saint the Marquess of Sainthill meet and have a tryst. The story picks up several years later as Madam Vena and Saint are thrown together at odd times and for various reasons that I won’t get into here. However, the fun part of the story begins when Saint and the mild mannered Charlotte are also thrown together. Saint wants to save Charlotte from a life as a prostitute at the Golden Pearl not knowing that she is actually Madam Vena herself. If this had been the whole story it may have stayed a 4 out of 5.

Unfortunately, both Charlotte and Madam Vena have problems; her two worlds are colliding and she is finding it hard to keep them apart. First, Madam Vena is being blackmailed by the man that raised her, Mr. Royal. Secondly, Charlotte is being harassed by her natural father or rather his representatives. She rightfully dose not want anything do with either men. Thirdly, Saint is always there aggravating her in both of her worlds.

This is where the story becomes a 2 out of 5. Ms Hawkins could have created so much drama out of all these problems not to mention the fact that somehow she has to make it acceptable for these two to marry. Instead Saint packs Charlotte off to stay with some of his friends and voila! He comes back a week later with her natural father and all is well and they marry the end. Did I mention that this all happens in the last two chapters. In one chapter Charlotte is contemplating disappearing into the mist and the next she is married to Saint. No conflict, no troubles, just THE END. I felt like many other people that have read this book, several chapters seem to be missing if it is due editing they choose to edit out the most important part of the book.In this case, Ms. Hawkins editor should be hogtied, hung, shot and left out to dry.

At the end of the day I enjoyed the read but was disappointed in the ending. If you can get it at the library or a second hand book store for cheap then try it out just know that it will not be a keeper.